If you’re looking for a used car, odds are you know how important it is to get a good vehicle history report. The services dig deep into your potential buy’s dark past to root out any skeletons you should be aware of. Unfortunately, a majority of buyers take that report as gospel and skip other key parts of the buying process. According to an article published by Consumer Reports, every major history checking service can miss major damage to a vehicle during its life, allowing some less than trustworthy soul to put the car back together and resell it.

How does this happen? The truth is there are a number of ways an individual can keep an accident off of a car’s record. Instead of going through the regular insurance channels, the car can be repaired out of pocket by a local body shop. It’s also possible a “totaled” vehicle can miss being claimed by the insurance company as such, leaving the title clear and free. However it happens, the vehicle’s history appears clean to standard vehicle databases.

In truth, the only sure-fire way to know the vehicle you want to buy hasn’t been in any major accident is to get it evaluated by an independent, trustworthy mechanic. They can usually spot where a car has been repaired better than the rest of us can and will also alert you to any extra work that may be needed. In short, a vehicle’s history report is only part of the car’s overall bill of health. While it’s absolutely essential to get one during the buying process, no service is perfect. Make sure to have your car checked out before signing the title. [Source: ConsumerReports]